ZnO LIGHTNING ARRESTER EARTHING IMPEDANCE CHARACTERISTICS UNDER TRANSIENT OVERVOLTAGES MEHRDAD MOKHTARI A project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Engineering (Electrical - Power) Faculty of Electrical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia JANUARY 2013
To my wife Sepideh, to my daughter, Bahar, and to my parents iii
iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT First, I would like to express my thanks to Associated Professor Dr. Zulkurnain Abdul Malek for his comments, guidance, and advices in the preparation of this report. I am also grateful to my family for their patience during the entire report making process.
v ABSTRACT Lightning arrester in a power system is categorized as a device, which operates in transient conditions. Therefore, the performance of the arrester must be analyzed in transient circumstances. Some particular considerations such as physical (grounding installation) and electrical (impulse current) aspects must be taken. Hence, this research aims to take into account the effect of nonlinear characteristics of the grounding impedance on the residual voltage of the lightning protection system in different discharge conditions. In this issue, the lightning protection system consisting of ZnO and grounding model was adjusted to yield the accurate results in EMTP. For this purpose, IEEE dynamic model of ZnO arrester was adjusted such that the manufacturer's performance test results are achieved. The arrester was connected to the improved circuit model of the grounding electrode system. To analyze the performance of the lightning protection system with different grounding configurations, the system was subjected to the three groups of lightning impulse currents. For this purpose, CIGRE standard, Berger, and 8/20 (μs/μs) standard lightning currents were applied as impulse currents. The results shown that the lightning protection system cannot completely protect the power system equipment during the high amplitude and very fast front times of discharge currents, which were experienced under CIGRE and Berger current. In addition, residual voltages of the lightning protection system under standard performance tests for discharge currents less than 5kA do not exceed the protection level, but compare to the manufacturer s results, the residual voltages are considerably increased.
vi ABSTRAK Penangkap kilat dalam sistem kuasa dikategorikan sebagai alat yang beroperasi dalam keadaan fana (sementara). Oleh itu, prestasi penangkap kilat mesti dianalisis dalam keadaan fana. Beberapa pertimbangan tertentu seperti aspek fizikal (asas pemasangan pembumian) dan elektrik (arus dorongan) perlu diambil kira. Oleh itu, penyelidikan ini bertujuan untuk mengambil kira kesan ciri-ciri linear rintangan pembumian pada sisa voltan sistem perlindungan kilat dalam keadaan pelepasan yang berbeza. Dalam isu ini, sistem perlindungan kilat terdiri daripada ZnO dan sistem pembumian yang telah diselaraskan untuk menghasilkan keputusan yang tepat dalam EMTP. Bagi tujuan ini, model dinamik IEEE penangkap ZnO telah diselaraskan untuk mencapai keputusan ujian prestasi pengilang. Penangkap kilat ini telah disambungkan kepada model litar baik sistem elektrod pembumian. Untuk menganalisis prestasi sistem perlindungan kilat dengan konfigurasi asas yang berbeza, sistem adalah tertakluk kepada tiga kumpulan arus dorongan kilat. Bagi tujuan ini, kelas CIGRE, Berger dan 8/20 (μs / μs) arus kilat piawai digunakan sebagai arus dorongan. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa sistem perlindungan kilat tidak dapat melindungi peralatan sistem kuasa semasa amplitud tinggi dan masa depan arus pelepasan yang sangat cepat, di mana ia telah berpengalaman di bawah arus CIGRE dan Berger. Di samping itu, sisa voltan sistem perlindungan kilat di bawah ujian prestasi piawai bagi pelepasan arus kurang dari 5kA tidak melebihi tahap perlindungan, tetapi sisa voltan ini meningkat dengan ketara berbanding dengan keputusan pengeluar.